State Senate races -- Fain is losing, Ericksen barely hanging on

State Sen. Doug Ericksen, R-Ferndale: The co-chairman of Donald Trump's 2016 campaign in Washington is hanging onto his seat by a 72-vote margin.

State Sen. Doug Ericksen, R-Ferndale: The co-chairman of Donald Trump's 2016 campaign in Washington is hanging onto his seat by a 72-vote margin.

Photo: Dougericksen.src.wastateleg.org

Photo: Dougericksen.src.wastateleg.org

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State Sen. Doug Ericksen, R-Ferndale: The co-chairman of Donald Trump's 2016 campaign in Washington is hanging onto his seat by a 72-vote margin.

State Sen. Doug Ericksen, R-Ferndale: The co-chairman of Donald Trump's 2016 campaign in Washington is hanging onto his seat by a 72-vote margin.

Photo: Dougericksen.src.wastateleg.org

State Senate races -- Fain is losing, Ericksen barely hanging on

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Businesswoman and Democratic challenger Mona Das has expanded her lead over Republican State Sen. Joe Fain to 548 votes, giving Democrats an almost-certain pickup of a second seat in the Legislature's upper chamber.

The 47th District, in southeast King County, appears to have flipped two legislative seats to the Democrats.

A longtime aide to U.S. Rep. Adam Smith, Debra Entenman has ousted Republican State Rep. Mark Hargrove, leading Hargrove by 2,700 votes.

Fain was hit in late September with the allegation that he raped a woman in her Washington, D.C., hotel room a decade ago. He denied the charge and called for an investigation. Senate leaders announced Thursday that an investigator will be hired.

The state's three tightest legislative battles are at the northern corner of the state in Whatcom County's 42nd District, and involve a controversial lawmaker, oil industry defender and Trump supporter.

State Sen. Doug Ericksen, R-Ferndale, co-chair of the 2016 Trump campaign in Washington, clings to a 72-vote lead over Bellingham City Council member Pinky Vargas. The county says it has only 34 votes left to count.

Vargas rallied Facebook followers, posting: "Woof, woff, Round 4. I'm gaining on him again. Only 72 ballots between us. We are still in the race."

Another seat in the 42nd has flipped. Western Washington University professor Sharon Shewmake leads incumbent GOP Rep. Vincent Buys by 937 votes. The district was sculpted to favor Republicans after the 2010 census, with precincts in liberal Bellingham excised from it.

Republican State Rep. Luanne Van Werven is in the district's third tight contest, leading Democrtic challenger Justin Boneau by 131 votes.

If Ericksen survives, it guarantees four more years of feuds between the conservative Republican and contentious Bellingham liberals.

They have questioned his travels to Cambodia, and challenged him for holding down an EPA job in the Trump transition while continuing to serve in the State Senate. He found himself under fire for blocking critics from his Facebook page.

The Democrats have picked up House seats in the 5th, 28th, 42nd, 44th and 47th Districts, giving them at least 56 seats in the 98-member chamber. They had enjoyed thin 58-48 seat advantages in the last two sessions.

They have taken out Democrat-turned-Republican State Sen. Mark Miloscia, beaten by educator Claire Wilson in the 30th District, which straddles the King/Pierce County border. The Das victory over Fain is a second pickup.

The Democrats' third potential pickup is in the much-fought-over 26th District of the Kitsap Peninsula, which has regularly seen high six-figure spending by candidates and party PACS in recent years.

Democrat Emily Randall is 510 votes ahead of State Rep. Marty McClendon for the seat being vacated by retiring GOP Sen. Jan Angel. The ongoing tussle over the 26th District Senate seat was set off when popular legislator Derek Kilmer was elected to Congress in 2012.

But . . . Kitsap estimates that 17,755 ballots must still be counted. If Randall's lead holds, Democrats would hold 28 seats in the 49-member Senate.

One other State Senator was unseated on Tuesday. Shoreline City Council member Jesse Salomon overwhelmed a fellow Democrat, veteran liberal incumbent Sen. Maralyn Chase in the 32nd District, which straddles the King/Snohomish County border. Salomon took almost 70 percent of the vote.

He lost a bid for Congress, but Republican Dino Rossi had perhaps the best line in describing election 2018: "In Washington we don't have an election day, we have an election week.

Columnist Joel Connelly has written about politics for the P-I since 1973.